Villain?
by zilcatblack
Summary: Why does Max seem to never make any progress as a villain? How come Phoebe often seems the more devious of the twins?
1. Begining

If twins were born into a family with superpowers one would be good and the other evil. This was a fact that Max Thunderman had discovered at the very young age of ten, and it had dominated his life ever since. No one was quite sure why, those who were twins were always much too busy fighting one another to figure it out, but it always happened. When Max was younger he had been even more focused on learning than Phoebe is now. His favorite place had been the Metroburg Library for Supers, he could never figure out why Phoebe didn't like the place. At one point he discovered a secret door behind a bookcase. Was it both cliché and overly dramatic? Most definitely, this is after all a library run by a group of people who wear spandex all the time, but behind it had been a room full of secret history books. Max had never told anyone, and had spent the following year reading every book in it. It was here he first discovered this fact, and used the internet to double check of course. He had also discovered a book of legends and predictions in the room. He was from a very prominent family in the super community so he was unsurprised to find the family name mentioned specifically in a few of them. It was when he got to the section of what was yet to come that he stumbled upon something that would reroute the course of his life forever. It projected that one day born into a family that had so far held only heroes a set of twins would be born. The boy would become the greatest hero of the Thunderman family, the girl however was destined to become the most powerful villain to ever exist. Her family would be the only thing capable of grounding her even a little if she ever lost her strong connection to them her wicked ways would not be satisfied with normal trickery, but only the destruction of the earth. Max of course didn't believe it for a second. He didn't beleive the twin thing either really, maybe it happened to some sets of twins, but Phoebe and he were both good as well as the best of friends. There is no way she would ever do anything like that. He called the whole thing baloney, and quite through with this secret library all but forgot its existence.

It was just another day at school in Metroburg when he remembered again. Phoebe and he were once again trying to outdo each other in grades, each being the other's only competition, when Phoebe took it a little too far. He had seen her copying other people's homework before, but that was a very minor offense that a lot of other kids did to so he let it slide, and never confronted her about it at the same time vowing never to do it himself. No what Phoebe did that bothered him was holding a kid upside down with her newly in control telekinesis. She was demanding that he do her science project better the next time, she had gotten a 98% whereas Max had gotten a 100% earlier that day, or she would show him what it really meant to fail Phoebe Thunderman. Max was so surprised that his sweet twin sister was doing this that she was well into the horrible name calling part of her rant before he had the wits about him to intervene. He wasn't even aware she knew that many swear words! Tapping her on the shoulder had her whirling around in surprise, causing her to lose her concentration and let the kid drop. Luckily Max had the same superpowers, and was able to put the kid back down gently on the floor right side up. The kid hightailed it out of their before he could apologize. Turning back to his sister who was currently giving him her sweetest smile he sighed, and proceeded to give her a disappointed chewing out. It was on that day that he realized for the sake of his sister, and the world he would have to become the villainous twin. Even if it was just for show. That way he could still keep his best friend, and the world could much more easily deal with a not so great superhero and a purposely horrible supervillain than it could the alternative.


	2. A Move?

**Author's Note: This is all set before Chloe. If you want me to continue all I need is one follow or review. If I do continue Chloe might appear towards the end.**

By the time they had moved to Hiddenville Max had the harmless super-villain routine down pat. Pranks were an essential part of it, and he had to admit he actually enjoyed

the minor ones. He just didn't enjoy the ones that he could tell actually caused some damage. Seeing his parents struggle with his behavior had briefly made him consider

telling them, and just keeping it a secret from Phoebe. His sister was no idiot though, and his parents were not the best of actors so he just had to make them suffer a little.

It had been hardest when the younger kids started growing up. He really wanted to be their awesome big brother to look up to. Now he had to distance himself to keep

from being a bad role model. It wasn't all bad though he got to learn a lot of questionable useful skills that he would have otherwise not had time for. Like lock-picking,

invention building, and martial arts the normal way without his powers. He had also gotten to know Doctor Coloso which is something he definitely would not have done

otherwise. The whole thing had become pretty routine, so when his parents said they were retiring and moving to Hiddenville he was worried. That meant a shakeup in

routine, no excuse not to make friends more like himself, plus another identity to hide on top of what he was already concealing.

His first day at school where everyone didn't know him as Thunderman's kid or that troublemaker, was actually pretty nice. It was not until day two that he realized just how

much he missed the familiar people of Metroburg. Luckily he didn't need to worry about Phoebe going down a dark path because she missed Metroburg. She had already

made an idiotic, but sweet friend named Cherry. Max was beyond thrilled. It would make his life a million times easier for Phoebe to have a "besty". It would distract her

from what he was doing, and he could get away with more slip ups. It was also helpful to his cause that Cherry seemed so honestly good and innocent, her friendship

would help lead his sister down the right path. His new "lair" in this house was also pretty sweet. Besides the obvious awesome things about it, he had more privacy, and

room to work on his inventions. Not all of them had evil purposes after all he just had to make sure no one, including doctor coloso, saw the things he made that were

meant to help people. It also gave him the technology update he needed to keep an eye on the rest of his family. Part of this was to ensure that Phoebe was not going down

the wrong path, but the rest was to watch over and protect his siblings. He was their big brother after all. The monitors were impossible to hide from Doctor Coloso, so he

explained them away as being a way to find a perfect time for his pranks, as well as a good security system.

The trickiest part of balancing all of this is that he also had to be at mean to Phoebe. This was difficult, because he still thought of her as his best

friend, but if he didn't treat her rough enough she would start to suspect something too rough and he would push her towards the dark side. Watching

her get acquainted with normal life as a teenage girl had been quite entertaining. Discovering Hiddenville had also been interesting. For whatever

reason the super population here seemed to be at zero. Metroburg might be the only city in the world to hold more supers than normal citizens, but still

most town of any size had at least one known super resident hanging around. People here seemed to treat the idea of supers as more distant than the lives

of celebrities they were always chirping about. No one he came across had ever met a super before hero or villain at least not knowingly. He had actually run

into a few people who didn't think they really existed. His villain persona had allowed him to learn a lot of things. The most important of which was that the

most evil people in the world didn't tend to be the over dramatic ones with super powers.


	3. What Now?

**Apologies when school begins it has a nasty way of dominating every aspect of life.**

It was just another day, they had been in Hiddenville for six weeks and Phoebe was still fitting in well, when Max first noticed something was up. He caught

Cherry working on homework. It was for the advanced math class at school, he could tell by the book cover. She seemed to be breezing right through it too.

This instantly put him on high alert, she clearly was not who she seemed to be either. Not wanting to risk ruining her friendship with Phoebe without good

reason, Max opted to not confront her about it.

He kept an eye on her instead. No he wasn't stalking! He just paid closer attention to her both at school, and when she came over which was a lot. During

his observing he discovered a few things. The first of which, much to his relief, was that Cherry seemed to genuinely like Phoebe. This was good for two

reasons; one it lessened her chances of being a backstabber like all those teenage girls in those movies his sister seemed to enjoy watching; two it meant

that she was not just sent to spy on his sister by some super villain that had figured out where the Thundermans lived or worse the legend. Another thing

that he discovered while observing Cherry was that most of her air-headed responses appeared to be very genuine. Math seemed to be the only exception,

she would pause slightly before she would comment on anything to do with numbers. She seemed to be quite intent on hiding her ability with numbers. Max

was a little confused he could understand avoiding the subject to keep a friend from feeling down on herself, but Phoebe was a straight A student. Why not

be open about it, and have one more thing in common with her new "bestie"?

He just let the matter be until one day when he was riding his bike home, a recently acquired skill, he heard a scream. Now if Phoebe or any other family

member had been in the area he would have ignored it, and let them handle it. To do otherwise was to risk his cover. He probably would have also let it

slide if there was law-enforcement in the area. Neither was true the streets were looking pretty abandoned, and the rest of the family was off visiting cousin

Blobbin. He had refused to go, which he probably would have done any way in a more polite manner. Cousin Blobbin really could get on his nerves

sometimes. So realizing that whoever was in trouble would probably stay that way until he did something about it, he grinned and started pedaling like a

madman toward the noise.

It sure felt great to be allowing himself to help someone, hopefully a stranger, again. As long as the situation did not require super powers he should be able

to go on his way no questions asked. When he arrived on the scene he discovered that luckily this was not going to require super powers. Unfortunately that

was his second take on the scene. His first had been to gauck for half a second, because it was Cherry of all people that needed assistance. A fairly large

man with a hoodie pulled down over his face was going through her purse with a knife in one hand, thank goodness it wasn't a gun that would have made

things much trickier. Cherry was standing about five feet away, tears streaming down her face, frozen in a scream with her back pressed up against a wall.

Max walked up within arm reach of the man before making himself known. He knocked the knife out of the guy's hands before he had a chance to react. He

was already holding the purse by the time the man had come to his senses enough to lunge at him. Max just sidestepped and left his arm there at neck

height, stepping around him and putting the guy in a choke hold. He held until the would be mugger passed out, then he gently laid him on the ground. Then

he looked back up. Now the real problem. What to do with a terrified Cherry?

 **A special thanks to the first two reviews the first for making me realize it published as computer code for whatever reason, and the second for providing the necessary motivation. Another thank you to the other reviewers, and followers.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A special thanks to the first two reviews the first for making me realize it published as computer code for whatever reason, and the second for providing the necessary motivation. Another thank you to the other reviewers, and followers.**

"I can explain," he started before being cut off by Cherry collapsing with a sob into him. Not knowing what else to do he hesitantly wrapped an arm around her. Then

just stood there awkwardly until Cherry calmed down enough to come back into her usually talkative self.

"Thank-you so much Max," she squeaked out as she jumped back from him, as if only just realizing who he was. She doesn't even know about the villainous side, and

she's still a little scared of me, he thought. I must be doing a pretty decent job of playing the bad guy. He knew he had to get her home, she was liable to make poor

decisions while she was this overemotional. Possibly even worse than wandering by herself through the worst part of town.

"I'll walk you home," was all he said in response before turning and heading out of the alley. She just followed silently still quelling the last of her panicked sobs. At this

point he realized that he didn't actually know where Cherry lived. Cherry realizing this walked a little faster until she was the one slightly in the lead. She almost

protested when he had said he would walk her home, but that just didn't seem like a good idea just then. Max may be rather off putting, and I really don't want him to

see the house, but it's way better than walking home by myself again.

Max was a little confused when she headed farther towards the "bad side" of town (though this was Hiddenville bad side is a relative term). This got him trying to guess

their destination in order to distract himself from thinking about how on earth he could get Cherry not to say anything about him saving her to Phoebe. Not to mention

what was going on in Cherry's own head. Cherry finally came to a stop before a peeling old door in the side of building that appeared to be in even worse condition. There

weren't many apartment buildings in Hiddenville, just the really nice new ones on the other side of town, and a few buildings like these which were considered to be

cheap housing. The building they were standing in front of seemed to be the worst off of the lot. Max was surprised by Cherry once again. Now that he thought about it

he had never heard of Phoebe going over to Cherry's for a sleepover. They always seemed to come to their house. This was especially amazing because he knew all the

Thunderman siblings tried to keep their non-super powered friends away from the house to prevent scenarios where they might have to lie. This might explain why he

thought.

Cherry just stood there awkwardly for a time like she wanted him to leave. He didn't oblige her though he was going to make sure she was safe inside before he just left

her alone again. He wasn't sure what to say so he didn't speak either. Eventually Cherry realised he wasn't just going to make this easier on both of them, and just walk

off. "This is my door, you can go. Thanks for walking me back" She tried. Max just raised an eyebrow. Sighing Cherry said, "Fine come inside, and I'll explain". Realizing

that she thinks that he wants an explanation for the house, he feels bad. He just want to make sure she actually gets home safe. He keeps quiet all the same he is

curious to see what she feels like she needs to explain. She gives another sigh as she searches her recently rescued purse for the key. Leading him in the door she plops

down on the couch right by the door, the room also has a small kitchenette to one side. The whole place is pretty dirty. He sits down next to her, and waits for her to

speak. When she does she blurts out "You can't tell anyone". Of all the things he was expecting to hear that might have been last on the list.

It did provide a solution to his current problem, so he took her up on it. "I won't say a thing about this place or anything else you tell me

today if you don't tell anyone that I was the one to save you." He offered. Cherry made the promise instantly, desperately not wanting

anyone else to find out. Then she began to explain, whatever it was she felt like she needed to explain.


End file.
